Alicia Silverstone's Blog, page 128

action alert: help stop the drugging of racehorses at the triple crown

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Each year during Triple Crown thoroughbreds are made to participate in fiercely competitive races like the Kentucky Derby and the upcoming Belmont Stakes competition. Horse racing has been done for centuries lame but true but recently trainers have been exposed for severely drugging horses to help improve their performances. According to this shocking article in The New York Times steroids Viagra and cobra venom are just some of the performance-enhancing drugs used on the horses to make them stronger and faster though the dangerous drugs can ultimately cause the animals to perform beyond their ability resulting in painful injuries illness and tragic accidents.

This type of abuse for sport is heartbreaking but there is something you can do. The federal Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act H.R. 1733/S. 886 addresses this terrifying practice by prohibiting the abusive drugging of racehorses testing the animals for drugs and imposing tough penalties on those who violate the Act.

This issue is too important to ignore. Contact your representative today and let them know why you support the Interstate Horseracing Improvement Act. 

How can we get people to stop supporting the races? Leave your thoughts in the comments below. 

More action alerts...
URGENT: Show Your Support for Captain Paul Watson
Action Alert: Ban Live Animal Export
Action Alert: Help Put Captive Chimps on the Endangered Species List 

Photo: A Student's Scoop on Equine Nutrition

URGENT: show your support for captain paul watson

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In 2002 Captain Paul Waston the star of Whale Wars on Animal Planet intercepted a ship that was illegally catching and finning sharks off the coast of Guatemala to send to Asia. Captain Watson was charged with violating navigational regulations and though the charges were eventually dropped they were recently reinstated when an arrest warrant was issued last October. Captain Watson was arrested in Germany and he may be soon extradited back to Costa Rica.

Paul needs supporters to appeal the German Ministry of Justice for help. The Public Prosecutor stated that the German Ministry of Justice and the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs have the power to stop the extradition procedures on political grounds and if they give notice that they would not grant an extradition of Paul Watson to Costa Rica the case will be over and Captain Watson would be set free immediately.

We have less than 48 hours for the German Minister of Justice to overturn the decision to hold Paul for up to 90 days in Germany while his extradition to Costa Rica is further determined.

This statement from Captain Watson was recently posted on the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society:

“In our efforts to defend the lives of whales dolphins seals sharks and fish we have made some powerful enemies most notably the government of Japan.  It is no coincidence that the extradition request by Costa Rica was issued the same month October 2011 as the Japanese whaling ICR lawsuit against Sea Shepherd was initiated. The extradition request was in reference to a complaint from Costa Rican fishermen who I caught poaching in Guatemalan waters. The fishermen were not injured and their boat was not damaged. The incident was fully documented for the film Sharkwater.Interpol originally denied this extradition order and deemed it as politically motivated. Therefore the question must be asked why Germany is now taking into account accusations made by illegal poachers.”- Captain Paul Watson

You can learn more about Captain Watson and this situation by watching the video below:


This is an extremely urgent matter so show your support for Paul by reading the word and visiting the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society website.

Photo: NY Times

kind Q&A: changing how kids eat at schoolone meal at a time

I wanted to introduce you all to my beautiful friend Roxanne. We met at a raw food convention many many years ago. She was able to convince her daughter’s school to serve more vegetables. Roxanne is a real inspiration in taking action over things that many of us may feel powerless over…like school lunches.

“I have had experiences with getting more veggies served at my daughter’s school two different times…once with my daughter Raja & then with my other daughter Ally who is now a junior in college.

With Ally I did a couple of things that I would highly recommend. I volunteered to teach a cooking class…telling the teacher that the kids will learn something fun & that I will also integrate some math & number skills age appropriate. Teachers always welcome a fun new experience that does not require any extra work ontheir part.  

My mission was to teach kids about making healthy organic yummy vegan food. When I started this Ally was in pre-kindergarten in a French school…by the end of 1st grade it had become so popular that I had also raised money to put in a teaching kitchen at the school. I also regularly brought the classes to my gardens to teach about organic gardening & make salads & veggie pizzas in the outdoor ovens. I also did tastings with Safeway unorganic strawberries & tomatoes verses homegrown organic ones…they swore they could never eat a tasteless conventionally grown fruit/veg again! What I found is that the kids were loving what they experienced and going home & telling their parents. So I was then getting calls from parents asking for recipes for all these foods that the kids were making at school & raving about…they were always shocked to find out that they were vegetable centered & vegan. They found out that their kids liked vegetables they would have never thought of making for them. Kids love to see & be part of where their food comes from and they are up for eating anything they took part in growing and/or harvesting. I found that the kids can really influence the way the family eats…just by recounting their day to their parents. I think anyone who can organize trips to a local organic farm if the school does not have access to a garden can put together a great start to getting kids inspired to eat vegetarian.

My next experience was from 2nd grade to middle school where Ally went to a Waldorf school. The small school did not have an organized school lunch program so I decided to jump in & make one available. Once again making it easy for everyone involved was key. It’s important to make good allies at the school. I started out with doing 2 lunches a week all vegan and some raw. I mostlyexplained that they will be organic healthy meals. I found out that some people do not understand how much kids will love vegan food if they are given the opportunity! One of the most popular things I offered was a large saladbar; I put on it everything that grew in my garden plus lots of yummy sprinkles of nuts raisins edible flowers rawmesan seasonal fruits and many choices of homemade dressings. The kids loved having the variety of choices.

For the lunches I enlisted parent volunteers to help with set up & clean up. This way parents got to witness all the healthy food the kids were eating at school I can't tell you how many times I heard someone say that they thought their son/daughter would never eat that way until they saw it themselves at school.  

Once again the calls were coming in asking for recipes…I ended up putting them in the school’s newsletter & offering cooking classes to the parents too. After the first year I felt like the whole school community had really changed the way their families were eating…it was very rewarding.

With my daughter Raja it was a bit different. Her elementary school had a set school lunch program that was basically as they liked to think of it "kid's food.” That meant hamburger hotdogs mac & cheese & chicken fingers. Well this was a tougher project for me. I started with teaching cooking in the classes from smoothies to vegan lasagnas to raw desserts which had good results but I knew I would have to do something more when I saw the hamburgers & corn syrup sweetened desserts come out for lunch.  

This was a larger school so things weren't as easy plus they were not Waldorf parents! So I found a group of parents that had similar concerns about what our kids were being served for lunch and talked to as many parents as I could asking if they would be open to a change.  

It’s actually shocking what some parents think is “healthy.”  Again I found the more you can make it easy for administrators and know who your allies are at a school the easier it is to make changes. I ended up finding a caterer who would do vegetarian lunches for the school which was a start.  Then after many test lunches to kids parents teachers administrators and a lot of hard selling the organic vegetarian lunches were going to cost 1.00 a day more than the other lunches the lunch program was approved. It took sometime to transition but ultimately it was a huge success all around." 

Isn't it great how you can help change the way families eat by changing what kids eat at school? And of course vise versa. The better you eat at home the better your little ones will eat as well.

What do you think of Roxanne’s experience changing the way children think of food and what they eat? Do you have any experience with changing the way kids eat at school? Share your stories in the comments below.



For some more about kids and eating healthy read:
Mama & Baby Workouts
Calling All Cooking Newbies!
A Must Have for Mamas
Delicious Sunday Dinners

Photo Source: minnpost.com

live chat: read my live chat about enjoying a kind summer

live chat: let's talk about a kind summer TODAY at 5 pm!

I want to remind you all to come meet me back here at 5 pm PST / 8 pm EST for my live chat. You have submitted some great questions already about all things warm weather-related: sunscreen swimwear weight loss—so keep your questions coming and I’ll answer as many as I can today during our live chat.

To participate all you have to do is logon to The Kind Life when the chat starts. If you don't already have a profile on The Kind Life make sure to sign up for one so you'll receive an email notification when the live chat begins.

I look forward to talking to ya'll!

Share your questions below and I'll try to answer as many as I can during the live chat!

More kind discussions...
ANNOUNCING: My Next Live Chat!
My Live Chat About Pregnancy 
Love Chatting With You All
Ask a Superhero: What's Up With Wheatgrass? 

 

kind cure: kathy finds what's missing in her life

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Kind Lifer Kathy made some big changes and her life is better than ever!

“In the hope of inspiring others to make a change I'd like to share my story. The power of a year can be underestimated. Last year I was unhappily working for a large corporation using anti-depressants and red wine to pass the days. I knew I needed a change that there was something I was missing out of life. 

My first step was to nix the pharmaceuticals and change my diet. In May I read The Kind Diet and Eating Animals and it was then that I made the decision to be a vegetarian. From there I was inspired to make other major changes. I quit smoking and quit my toxic job and quit red wine not necessarily in that order. I started volunteering as a server at a Buddhist vegetarian organic restaurant bringing people healthier more nourishing food and educating them on GMO's and the importance of organic. 

Back in November I tried out different diets including a Superhero Macrobiotic and Raw diet for 30 days. After that I never looked back on eating dairy and have never felt better. And yes like other vegans gone wild I lost that annoying 10 pounds that's hard to get rid of! 

Now I'm embarking on an organic farming internship for nine months in the hopes of eventually managing an organic farm of my own and working with the surrounding community. If you had told me last year that all this would happen I'd tell you to get out! I made the changes some harder than others and have lived to tell about it. More than that I feel more alive now than ever! If you're thinking about making changes just know that you can and it's worth it...you're worth it.”     

Congratulations Kathy!

If any of you kind lifers have a success story to share private message me or upload your story to your profile and “like” it. I may feature you on the homepage of The Kind Life!

More kind cures... 
Kind Cures: Kelly Banishes Eczema
Kind Cures: Carol Heals Her Baby's Eczema
Kind Cures: Kayla Gets Back on the Wagon
Kind Cures: Spunky Loses 114 Pounds and Quits Smoking 

tune in: watch me on suburgatory tomorrow!

Last week on Suburgatory Noah got a little personal…  If you missed it you can watch the full episode on abc.com. 

Tomorrow's episode is the season finale and might be the last time you'll see Eden so don't forget to tune in to ABC at 8:30/7:30C!

More on Suburgatory:
Did You Catch Suburgatory? 
Bear on the Set of Suburgatory
Behind the Scenes of Suburgatory
On the Set of “Suburgatory”

GIVEAWAY: debuting my new juice beauty collection!

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I’m so excited to tell you about my new Juice Beauty line available exclusively at Ulta and Juice Beauty. I worked really hard to make this collection as eco-friendly and yummy as possible so I’m thrilled it’s finally here!

Every item in the collection is organic and 100 vegan containing nourishing ingredients like passion fruit champagne grape shea butter avocado aloe and fresh juices. The packaging is made from 95 post-consumer recycled materials and the makeup items have over 90 recycled paper components.

The ink used in the packaging is soy-based and once you’ve used up the products all the packaging is recyclable…yahoo! So not only can you recycle them and you must! but they're made from products that have already been recycled—plastic water bottles! How great is that?

Here’s a video about the new line from “Entertainment Tonight”:

Win My Complete Juice Beauty Collection!

I’m giving away one complete collection to one lucky winner! That includes one of each of the following:

Simply Pure Chamomile Cleanser
Simply Nourishing Moisturizer
Purely Kissable Lip Color
Irresistible Glow Facial Highlighter
Simply Flawless Pressed Powder

To enter for a chance to win leave a comment below telling me which product you want to try most and why. Good luck!

kind eats: bbq season is almost here!

Warm weather usually means cooking out. And for many people that might mean attending events where meat is on the menu. Here are some recipes for dishes you can bring to a BBQ or even better…throw your own kind summer BBQ! Nothing can inspire or motivate change better than a belly of delicious food.

Here are some yum BBQ ideas I shared last year:

Grilled Veggies - mushrooms zucchini onions whatever your favorites are!
Grilled Corn on the Cob…yum!
Cole Slaw – here’s a nice-looking recipe that uses vegenaise instead of dairy 
Potato Salad - see recipe below!
Mac ‘n Cheez - recipe courtesy of Seedling Catering
Baked Beans - my husband’s favorite BBQ food!
Grilled Gardein Scallopini is delicious!
Field Roast Sausages - you could make whole sausages or kebobs with grilled veggies and sausage on a stick!
your favorite non-dairy ice cream - Rice Dream mint sandwich bars are a summery fresh treat!

I haven’t tried this one but I love me some potato salad! I rarely eat it but it’s such a nice treat for a pool party or BBQ. And it’s so easy to make a healthier version... And sooo much yummier!

I would personally leave out the peppers and I think it would be way yummier that way but if you are someone who loves peppers leave them in!

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Summer Potato Salad 

Ingredients

2 lbs. baby new potatoes cooked peeled and halved
1 large shallot chopped
4 scallions chopped
1 small bunch fresh chives chopped
1/2 bunch flat leaf Italian parsley chopped
1 red bell pepper diced
1 yellow bell pepper roughly chopped
1 orange bell pepper cut into fine strips
1/2 c. Vegenaise
3 tbsp. white balsamic vinegar
Salt & pepper to taste

Steps

As potatoes are cooling mix the rest of the ingredients in a large bowl - your mixture should be thick not soupy
Add a little more vinegar or a spoonful more Vegenaise to get an appropriately "saucy" consistency
When potatoes are still slightly warm add them to the mixture and stir delicately so as not to mar the skins of the potatoes
Let cool in the fridge for about 2 hours or if you just can't stand it eat while still warm

What would your perfect BBQ look like?

More kind treats...
Delicious Sunday Dinners
Artichokes with Roast Capsicum and Sun-Dried Sauce
Kind Chocolate Cake
My Warm Spicy Wine

garden gourmet: my edible garden

Every spring I pull out all the weeds from my garden and put some nice compost into the soil. Then I plant my spring crop! Last year was more compact and a little less wild than the year before to get action-packed results in a small space. 

Last year I planted:

Onions
Sweet peas
Kale
Collards
Heirloom tomatoes couldn’t resist
Basil didn’t do too well – a furry creature was eating it
Lettuce
Beans
Celery
Parsley
Sage

This year was  a complete surprise! I planted in the winter time and forgot about it. Then all of a sudden I looked and there were veggies everywhere! We had fava beans kale and onions…that I had forgotten about.That's the exciting thing about planting food in the winter that doesn't need maintenance.

We had really tapped out the nutrients from the soil for a few years so we grew the fava beans to nourish the soil. Roger Doiron of Kitchen Gardeners International explains that all members of the legume family including beans peas and lentils replenish the nitrogen compounds that other plants need to grow.  When I first discovered the fava beans I ate some of them raw and they were delicious. To cook them we peel away the outer pod and steam the beans for about five minutes. Then the inner beans pop out easily from the little bean shells. I tossed some onto a fresh boiled salad and I give them to Bear to eat. He loves them! He picks them up with his little fingers and pops them in his mouth. 

We also have volunteer nasturtiums which are edible flowers and wild arugula that also volunteers. A volunteer crop is one that we didn't deliberately plant. It grows from the seed of an old crop and keeps coming back year after year. 

This is my surprise winter garden! 

The bulb of a spring onion eventually gets more round and white. Spring onions have more of a bite than green onions and can be used raw or cooked and are yum in salads or sautéed. I love to pick them early and slice up the bulb a few at a time to save in a jar to sprinkle on my soups. Then the green part I use like scallions—crunchy and delicious. Yum!

Growing your own food is fun I love eating from my garden!

What’s in your garden right now?

Related Stories:

Seed Bomb Machines!
My Garden in the Summertime!
Action ALert: Support a Kind Teacher
Flowers from My Garden